  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | I was hoping you'd get your appetite back. You're gonna need to eat. You're gonna need your strength. | „ |
| ~ Gregory as he prepares to kill another woman. |
Mark Gregory is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Charm and Harm". He is a charismatic serial killer who uses his ability to alter his appearance and manner to kidnap, torture, and drown women.
He was portrayed by Andy Comeau.
Biography[]
Past[]
Gregory was born and raised in Copperhill, Tennesssee. When Gregory was a child, his mother took him with her to motels, where she would leave him to play while she cheated on her husband, Gregory's father, with a series of men. Gregory knew what she was doing, however, and sensed that his weak-willed father knew as well, but lacked the courage to confront her. He grew to hate her, and when he was 10 years old, he caused her to crash her car into the river at nearby Rock Creek and drowned her by holding her head under a shallow pool of water that had leaked into the car. His father suspected that Mark was responsible, but he did not turn him in or get him help, instead rationalizing everything Mark did.
When he was a teenager, Gregory was arrested twice for voyeurism and statutory rape, respectively, but his father got him out of trouble. By this time, Gregory had become a smooth-talking, charismatic con artist, adept at adapting his appearance and personality to any situation in order to get what he wanted.
Gregory got married in his early twenties to a woman named Jenna Alban, but the union lasted only three weeks because of his pathological jealousy and need to control her every move; he was obsessed with the (incorrect) suspicion that she was cheating on him because his mother created for him an image of women as unfaithful and untrustworthy. After the divorce, he stalked Jenna for three years, until she changed her name and moved away.
Gregory started a successful real estate company in Sarasota, Florida, allowing him to have the trappings of wealth and success he had always craved, including high-end clothes, expensive cars, and several beautiful trophy girlfriends. His bloodlust remained, however, so he used his frequent business trips to prey on women all over the country. After charming his way into their lives using a variety of disguises, he would kidnap, torture, and drown them, just as he had drowned his mother.
His chameleon-like ability to change his appearance allowed him to get away with murder for years, until he murdered his girlfriend Stephanie Seagraves after finding out she was married. This time, police were able to connect him to the murder, as well as three others in the area. Gregory fled with a hostage, Nicole Wegener, which caused the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (BAU) to become involved in the investigation.
"Charm and Harm"[]
After torturing and drowning Wegener in a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, he goes to Copper Hill, where he disguises himself as a pilot in order to kidnap a woman from an airport, eventually killing her. After interviewing Gregory's father and ex-wife, BAU Agents Jason Gideon and Spencer Reid theorize that Gregory sees his victims as surrogates for his mother and kills them in order to punish her for his childhood trauma.
Posing as a handicapped shopper, Gregory lures a female supermarket employee to his car and then kidnaps her. He drives her to a nearby motel, where he attempts to drown her in the pool in broad daylight before the manager shows up to investigate. Gregory pretends that his victim is his wife and had fallen in the pool, begging the manager to revive her. While the manager manages to resuscitate the woman, Gregory uses the distraction to get away just as the BAU team arrives. Gregory kidnaps another woman moments later and forces her to drive to Rock Creek, intent on fulfilling his fantasy of killing his mother one last time at the place where his murders began.
By now, Gregory has begun to dissociate from reality and begins talking to the woman as if she is his mother, blaming her for his need to kill. She takes advantage of his distraction by intentionally crashing her car into the river and escaping through the driver's side door. Gregory catches her, however, and tackles her in an attempt to drown her. She hits him over the head with a piece of driftwood, but he tries once again to drown her. At that moment, however, the BAU team appears, flanked by local police. Agent Derek Morgan orders Gregory to surrender, but Gregory commits suicide-by-cop by lunging at him, forcing Morgan to shoot him dead.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Gregory is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- The late George Joseph Smith, a.k.a. “The Brides in the Bath Murderer”, a serial killer, bigamist, and daylight robber who married multiple women only to drown them in their bathtubs and steal their money.
- William Lee Neal, a con artist, domestic abuser, and serial killer/rapist of women.
- The late Paul John Knowles, a.k.a. “The Casanova Killer”, a serial/spree killer born and raised in Florida, with a history of failed relationships, preceding violent crimes, and taking and releasing hostages during his spree, before police shot him dead in a justifiable homicide.
- Glen Edward Rogers, a.k.a. "The Casanova Killer" or "The Cross Country Killer", a serial killer who murdered multiple women in a cross-country spree.
- The late Christopher Wilder, a.k.a. “The Beauty Queen Killer”, a serial killer/rapist of women and girls in multiple states who was also killed by police.
- The late Andrew Cunanan, a gay spree killer who murdered his lovers, then other men, including celebrity fashion designer Gianni Versace; he was known for changing his appearance, operating in Florida, having problems with his mother, and being sought by the FBI.
- The late Carroll Cole, a serial killer who strangled several women to death because they reminded him of his adulterous mother, and who committed his first murder at age eight by drowning a classmate.
- Reid classifies Gregory as a "narcissist with a split personality"
External links[]
- Mark Gregory at the Criminal Minds Wiki
